What do Democrats — and all sane people in America — do now?

Robert Reich

Friends,

If anyone were to doubt the menace of Donald Trump, they had only to watch his performance last night. He was worse than ever. His bullying lies were not just lies — they were frightening opposites of the truth, uttered with the vigor and certainty of someone who has now mastered the dark art of demagoguery.

It is difficult to summarize his lies because they suffused every sentence. He said historians judged him the best president (they judged him the worst), that every legal scholar wanted Roe v. Wade overturned (they overwhelmingly urged that it not be), that the U.S. has provided more aid to Ukraine than Europe has (the opposite is true), that migrants crossing the southern border are criminals and rapists (their rate of crime is significantly lower than the crime rate of people born here), that Biden is a criminal and liar … and on and on and on.

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Biden had good and often detailed answers to the questions put to him, but last night’s debate was never going to be about Biden’s answers. It was always going to be about his age. Sadly, Biden’s stiff, halting, withering delivery coupled with his slack-jawed expression and frozen stare when he wasn’t trying to form sentences made him seem not just old but on the decline.

When I got home from hosting our watchalong last night, my emails and text messages were brimming with worried friends, acquaintances, and political operatives. Most said it was urgently necessary to replace Biden with another candidate.

There are many problems with trying to replace Biden at this point. Among them:

1. Biden would have to willingly give up the nomination in order to release delegates already pledged to him. I have a hard time seeing how this could happen, unless Jill Biden, along with his closest and most trusted advisers and Barack Obama, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and Hakeem Jeffries all teamed up and told him he must exit the race.

2. The public doesn’t know any other Democrat nearly as well as they know Biden, and it would be difficult to introduce someone to the public at this late date without them being defined by Trump, the Republicans, and Fox News in the worst possible ways.

3. The only people I can think of as possible nominees are Kamala Harris, Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro, Wes Moore, Gavin Newsom, and (my personal favorite) Sherrod Brown. Out of all of them, Kamala Harris is obviously best known because she’s vice president, but if the criterion is who can beat Trump, it’s far from clear she’s the best choice. Yet, if it’s not to be Biden, a failure to nominate Harris might upset lots of Black people, women, and younger voters.

4. The Democratic nominating convention is only seven weeks away. An open convention, in which potential candidates duke it out, would be a chaotic mess (anyone remember 1968?), particularly in comparison to what’s expected to be Trump’s seamless and worshipful inauguration by the Republicans.

5. There are also not-so-pesky details about money and organization. All of the money now lodged in superPACs dedicated to Biden would have to be redirected. All of the national, state, and local party machinery, advertising, and internet capacity now designed to get out the vote for Biden would have to be totally redesigned.

I’m not saying it’s impossible to replace Biden at this juncture, only that it would require extraordinary deftness and collaboration on the part of the leaders of the Democratic Party, who are not always known for their deftness and collaboration.

I give it 10 days. By then, we’ll know whether Biden will be replaced. In the meantime, you can bet that his campaign, his advisers, and Jill Biden are doing whatever damage control they can — which centers on showing Biden to be vigorous, energetic, and on top of his game.

Today, at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, surrounded by cheering supporters, Biden nearly shouted:

I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious. I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know: I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. And I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done. And I know, like millions of Americans know, when you get knocked down you get back up.

Watch the clip, if you can. In it, Biden shows the kind of energy and vitality he lacked last night. These are not the words or actions of a candidate contemplating an emergency exit from the race.

But nor does Biden’s behavior today in Raleigh explain what the hell happened last night. And frankly, that’s what troubles me more than almost anything else.

Biden is smart. He can show energy and vitality, as he did in Raleigh today and at the State of the Union. But he can also reveal something else, as he did last night — a man who in many respects seems older than 81 years, who has trouble walking and speaking, and who, at least in those times and moments, doesn’t seem to stand a chance of being reelected president of the United States — even when his opponent is a twice-impeached convicted felon, pathological liar, and dangerous sociopath.

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